Audio delivery specs for TV, radio and online ads
Daan Koekelkoren — producer and founder of Studio ZK. Has been making music and sound for campaigns, brands and cultural institutions in Amsterdam since 2016.
Every channel that plays your ad has its own rules for how loud it may be and in what file it arrives. Miss them and a spot comes back from the technical check, or plays quieter and flatter than the one before it. These are the numbers for the Netherlands, with the sources, and what they mean for the mix.
At what level do you deliver a TV commercial?
A commercial for Dutch television is delivered at an average of −23 LUFS, with a tolerance of 0.5 LU, and peaks that stay below −1 dBTP. That follows the European standard EBU R128 for short-form content. It is a delivery requirement, not a guideline: a spot that misses it is rejected at the technical check or turned down automatically.
The values per channel
| Channel | Average level (integrated) | Maximum peak (true peak) | File | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV (Ster, via SpotDeli) | −23 LUFS (±0.5 LU), short-term max +5 LU | −1 dBTP | PCM 24 bit, 48 kHz, in MXF | Screenforce technical specifications 2025 |
| Radio, Ster | −23 LUFS (EBU R128, preferred) | −1 dBTP | WAV, 48 kHz, stereo (mono on two identical channels) | Ster delivery specifications |
| Spotify audio ads | −16 LUFS (±1.5) | −2 dBTP | WAV, MP3 or OGG, 44.1 kHz, stereo | Spotify Advertising |
| YouTube | No delivery level; loud uploads are played back quieter | −1 dBTP is safe | Per the video upload specs | Platform normalisation |
| Instagram, TikTok | No published level | −1 dBTP is safe | Per the app | — |
Checked on 8 October 2026. Ster's radio specification also accepts an older peak-based alternative (−9 dBFS maximum); R128 is the preferred route.
What do LUFS and dBTP mean?
LUFS measures how loud something sounds over its whole length, weighted the way the ear hears. It is an average. A spot with a quiet opening and a loud ending can have the same LUFS number as one that is equally loud throughout.
dBTP (decibels true peak) measures the highest peak, including the peaks that only appear when the digital signal is turned back into an analogue one. A peak above −1 dBTP can distort after conversion or compression.
Together they say: this loud on average, and never higher than this.
Why does a louder spot not sound louder?
Because every spot is brought to the same average. A spot that gets its impact from volume is turned down at the first normalisation and then sounds flatter than the spot before it. A spot that gets its impact from contrast, such as a quiet moment just before the product shot, keeps it.
The TV specification also caps the short-term loudness at +5 LU above the target. So a single loud moment is allowed, but not a loud second half.
One piece of music, two mixes
| National TV | Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | −23 LUFS, peaks below −1 dBTP | Louder, varies per platform |
| Listening situation | TV speaker, room, at a distance | Phone speaker or earbuds, close up |
| Sound on? | Almost always | Often not; the edit has to work muted |
| Length | 20 or 30 seconds, fixed | 6 to 15 seconds, variable |
A TV mix uploaded to social unchanged sounds thin and quiet there. A social mix on TV sounds squashed. Studio ZK therefore delivers both mixes at the same time on every campaign. The full list of files is on what an ad music project delivers.
What goes wrong most often?
- Measuring part of the spot. LUFS is an average over the whole length. Measure only the loud part and the whole spot ends up too quiet.
- Making cutdowns afterwards. You end up cutting where nothing can be cut. Write the six-second version from the start; see music that survives the cutdown.
- Mastering voice-over and music separately. The level applies to the full mix. Two files that each sit at −23 LUFS land higher together.
- Delivering mono as one channel. Ster radio wants mono on two identical channels.
- Forgetting the Spotify level. A TV master at −23 LUFS is 7 LU too quiet for a Spotify audio ad.
How did this work for Boska?
The Boska spot ran nationally on television for several weeks. We wrote the music to the tempo of the edit, kept the dynamics in the arrangement instead of in the volume, and delivered the broadcast master, the cutdowns and the social versions in one go. The whole process is in behind the scenes at Boska.
Do I have to set my spot to −23 LUFS myself?
Not if the studio does it. Ask whether the broadcast master is delivered to the Screenforce or Ster specification and whether a loudness report comes with it. At Studio ZK both are part of the delivery. → Mixing & mastering